‘Helping You Make Smart Energy Choices’: APG&E, a Houston-based Privately-held Energy Provider, is Committed to Make People’s Lives Easier

"We value perseverance, innovation, and a ‘willingness to sweep the floors’. We strive to foster a culture that emphasizes friendliness, flexibility and responsiveness.”

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction.

In the United States, about 29 percent of global warming emissions come from our electricity sector. Most of those emissions come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.

In contrast, most renewable energy sources produce little to no global warming emissions. Even when including ‘life cycle’ emissions of clean energy (i.e, the emissions from each stage of a technology’s life—manufacturing, installation, operation, decommissioning), the global warming emissions associated with renewable energy are minimal.

In light of the above-mentioned scenario, we’re thrilled to present APG&E.

AP Gas & Electric (TX) LLC, doing business as APG&E, supplies electricity to residential, small business, and commercial customers in the United States. It supplies residential, and commercial and industrial electricity in Texas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

AGP&E was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Jay Harpole, APG&E CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

What are the factors that make APG&E stand out from the competition?

Every year in our industry, we meet with unforeseen challenges. This past year was no different. Power prices were hardly where everyone would like them to be. Bitter cold winters and sweltering summers have created a lot of volatility and uncertainty in the market place. Rather than sit on the sidelines, we at APG&E and our channel partners persevered and delivered value to our customers. Together, we provided a range of products and services that gave our customers peace of mind; provided help and solutions to their challenging problems, and supported various non-profit initiatives that are important to both of us. Being in a commodity business, our products are very similar to the ones offered by our competition, but what sets us apart is our flexibility in meeting the full suite of customer needs.

“Earning trust and respect of consumers all around the world is through consistent focus on delivering high quality in all of our actions.” How do you interpret this statement?

At APG&E, our purpose is to make people’s lives easier.

We value perseverance, innovation, and a ‘willingness to sweep the floors’. We strive to foster a culture that emphasizes friendliness, flexibility and responsiveness.

The company was founded by first and second generation immigrant entrepreneurs seeking to help others by providing access to affordable energy. This same spirit guides how we treat our employees, customers and channel partners. Today, we are improving both individual lives and entire communities by making it easy to access affordable energy.

Because we are privately held, we focus on long-term customer relationships rather than pressures from the financial markets. The result is a customer-centric approach to designing our service offerings and customer experience.

Unlike larger competitors, our boutique size enables us to respond more quickly to changing customer demands. This flexibility is why more channel partners and customers choose us every day.

Building a culture of sustainability inside an organization is very important to maintain a reputation in the global market. How is it true about your company?

Sustainability is very important to us, especially since we are in the electricity industry. The electricity industry is adapting to rapid changes as renewable generation sources are providing an ever-increasing source of electricity generation. Currently, renewables are about 17 percent of the U.S. electricity generation stack, but we have customers that would like to buy 100percent green energy. To meet our customer needs and support sustainability, we developed product offerings that allow all of our customers to buy a 100 percent green product generated from sources such as wind and solar. These products are popular not only with our residential customers but with many businesses as well.

What do you feel are the reasons behind your company’s reputation?

Employees! They are the ones delivering the value and creating a reputation through their actions. We put great emphasis on delivering on the promises we make to customers every day. Our organization is designed to ensure we meet and exceed our customer needs. Occasionally, we fall short of our own expectations and when that happens, we make it right. Our customers really appreciate how hard we work to make their lives easier.

How has APG&E participated in its community?

APG&E has been proudly involved in many local non-profit initiatives over the years. The most recent one that we have been most active with is with the Houston Food Bank. We began a partnership with the Houston Food Bank in late 2018, in an effort to help our fellow neighbors in Houston and surrounding areas. The Houston Food Bank is America’s largest food bank in distribution, leading hunger relief in 19 southeast Texas counties, and is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network.

Not only did we organize volunteering opportunities at the food bank with our employees, but we also developed a product that allows our customers the opportunity to enroll in a donation product that will benefit the Houston Food Bank. The food bank receives a specified donation amount for every enrollment of this product. In addition, the food bank receives monthly monetary donations based on the amount of electricity customers consume via this product.

This is one of many initiatives that we have been proud and honored to have been a part of. Being a contributing member of our community is very important to us at APG&E.

Leadership | APG&E

Jay Harpole, CEO: Jay Harpole has been with APG&E since 2014 and now serves as Chief Executive Officer. He has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry having worked for ExxonMobil, Dynegy, and Engie.

Mr. Harpole is certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) as an Energy Risk Professional (ERP). He has also earned multiple solar energy certificates from Solar Energy International (SEI).

Mr. Harpole earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Trade and Finance from Louisiana State University and a Master of Business Administration from the same varsity.

Cindi To, CSO: Cindi To serves as the Chief Sales Officer of APG&E.

John Williamson, CFO: John Williamson serves as the Chief Financial Officer of APG&E.

Jonathan Arnold, CIO: Jonathan Arnold serves as the Chief Information Officer of APG&E.

Stephanie Rau, VP (Ops & CC): Stephanie Rau serves as the Vice President (Operations and Customer Care) of APG&E.

Joshua Chambers, VP (S&P): Joshua Chambers serves as the Vice President (Supply and Pricing) of APG&E.

“Being in a commodity business, our products are very similar to the ones offered by our competition, but what sets us apart is our flexibility in meeting the full suite of customer needs.”